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11-Ketotestosterone and IGF-I increase the size of previtellogenic oocytes from shortfinned eel, Anguilla australis, in vitro

Department of Zoology, University of Otago, 340 Great King Street, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand and ¹ School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

Correspondence should be addressed to P M Lokman; Email: mark.lokman{at}stonebow.otago.ac.nz

Previtellogenic ovarian fragments from eel, Anguilla australis, were cultured in vitro in a chemically defined medium containing steroids and/or peptide hormones for 18 days in order to investigate their involvement in control of early oocyte growth. 11-Ketotestosterone (11-KT), but not estradiol-17ß, induced a significant 10–20% increase in diameters of previtellogenic oocytes and oocyte nuclei in a dose-dependent manner. Effects were greatest for 100 nM 11-KT, a dose that is within the physiological range seen in very early vitellogenic eels in the wild. The effect was not accompanied by obvious ultrastructural changes in the oocytes other than an apparent increase in nuclear size. Similarly, treatment with recombinant human IGF-I resulted in increased oocyte diameters, whereas no such effect was seen after treatment with heterologous insulin, GH, leptin, or human chorionic gonadotropin. Interestingly, lipid supplementation also resulted in an increase in oocyte diameter, and greater radioactivity in ovarian explants following incubation with ¹⁴C-triglycerides and 11-KT, but not FSH, suggesting that the androgen may play a role in lipid accumulation into the oocyte. Our results implicate hormones from both the reproductive and the metabolic axes in control of previtellogenic oocyte growth in a teleost fish.